By Frank Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, as published in the Greensboro Patriot, November 29, 1945
While in Windsor, Bertie County Farm Agent ‘General’ B.E. Grant told me about L.L. Saunders of Indian Woods, who found out this year that it pays to grow the Louisiana strain of Porto Rico sweet potatoes and to grow them properly. His were profitable this year despite the generally poor sweet potato season. Mr. Saunders harvested 250 bushels of No. 1 sweets, two bushels of jumbos and 35 bushels of small roots per acre from those which he grew according to recommended methods. From his usual methods formerly followed on the farm, he grew only 200 bushels of strings per acre.
Mr. Saunders secured his Louisiana seed stock in the spring of 1944, and before this past season, he treated his seed before bedding them. Under the sweets as planted in his demonstration field, he used 1,000 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer plus 10 pounds of borax per acre and set the plants 10 inches apart in the drill. When he drew the plants from the bed for setting before transplanting them in the field, he dipped them into a mercury solution as a further precaution against soil-bourne diseases in the field. For his general crop he used 800 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer and set the plants 14 inches apart in the drill.
He figures that at $2.50 a bushel, his increased production of No. 1 potatoes alone from the demonstration plot is worth $125 an acre or a total return of $625 per acre for the total crop handled in this improved way. This makes no allowance, at all, for the jumbos and the strings.
At the same time that Mr. Saunders bedded his seed potatoes for his main crop, he also planted eight rows from which he secured vine cuttings to produce a seed crop for next year. He harvested 80 bushels from these eight short rows and says the potatoes were much smoother and nicer than those harvested from the bedded rows.
While in Windsor, Bertie County Farm Agent ‘General’ B.E. Grant told me about L.L. Saunders of Indian Woods, who found out this year that it pays to grow the Louisiana strain of Porto Rico sweet potatoes and to grow them properly. His were profitable this year despite the generally poor sweet potato season. Mr. Saunders harvested 250 bushels of No. 1 sweets, two bushels of jumbos and 35 bushels of small roots per acre from those which he grew according to recommended methods. From his usual methods formerly followed on the farm, he grew only 200 bushels of strings per acre.
Mr. Saunders secured his Louisiana seed stock in the spring of 1944, and before this past season, he treated his seed before bedding them. Under the sweets as planted in his demonstration field, he used 1,000 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer plus 10 pounds of borax per acre and set the plants 10 inches apart in the drill. When he drew the plants from the bed for setting before transplanting them in the field, he dipped them into a mercury solution as a further precaution against soil-bourne diseases in the field. For his general crop he used 800 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer and set the plants 14 inches apart in the drill.
He figures that at $2.50 a bushel, his increased production of No. 1 potatoes alone from the demonstration plot is worth $125 an acre or a total return of $625 per acre for the total crop handled in this improved way. This makes no allowance, at all, for the jumbos and the strings.
At the same time that Mr. Saunders bedded his seed potatoes for his main crop, he also planted eight rows from which he secured vine cuttings to produce a seed crop for next year. He harvested 80 bushels from these eight short rows and says the potatoes were much smoother and nicer than those harvested from the bedded rows.
While in Windsor, Bertie County Farm Agent ‘General’ B.E. Grant told me about L.L. Saunders of Indian Woods, who found out this year that it pays to grow the Louisiana strain of Porto Rico sweet potatoes and to grow them properly. His were profitable this year despite the generally poor sweet potato season. Mr. Saunders harvested 250 bushels of No. 1 sweets, two bushels of jumbos and 35 bushels of small roots per acre from those which he grew according to recommended methods. From his usual methods formerly followed on the farm, he grew only 200 bushels of strings per acre.
Mr. Saunders secured his Louisiana seed stock in the spring of 1944, and before this past season, he treated his seed before bedding them. Under the sweets as planted in his demonstration field, he used 1,000 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer plus 10 pounds of borax per acre and set the plants 10 inches apart in the drill. When he drew the plants from the bed for setting before transplanting them in the field, he dipped them into a mercury solution as a further precaution against soil-bourne diseases in the field. For his general crop he used 800 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer and set the plants 14 inches apart in the drill.
He figures that at $2.50 a bushel, his increased production of No. 1 potatoes alone from the demonstration plot is worth $125 an acre or a total return of $625 per acre for the total crop handled in this improved way. This makes no allowance, at all, for the jumbos and the strings.
At the same time that Mr. Saunders bedded his seed potatoes for his main crop, he also planted eight rows from which he secured vine cuttings to produce a seed crop for next year. He harvested 80 bushels from these eight short rows and says the potatoes were much smoother and nicer than those harvested from the bedded rows.
While in Windsor, Bertie County Farm Agent ‘General’ B.E. Grant told me about L.L. Saunders of Indian Woods, who found out this year that it pays to grow the Louisiana strain of Porto Rico sweet potatoes and to grow them properly. His were profitable this year despite the generally poor sweet potato season. Mr. Saunders harvested 250 bushels of No. 1 sweets, two bushels of jumbos and 35 bushels of small roots per acre from those which he grew according to recommended methods. From his usual methods formerly followed on the farm, he grew only 200 bushels of strings per acre.
Mr. Saunders secured his Louisiana seed stock in the spring of 1944, and before this past season, he treated his seed before bedding them. Under the sweets as planted in his demonstration field, he used 1,000 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer plus 10 pounds of borax per acre and set the plants 10 inches apart in the drill. When he drew the plants from the bed for setting before transplanting them in the field, he dipped them into a mercury solution as a further precaution against soil-bourne diseases in the field. For his general crop he used 800 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer and set the plants 14 inches apart in the drill.
He figures that at $2.50 a bushel, his increased production of No. 1 potatoes alone from the demonstration plot is worth $125 an acre or a total return of $625 per acre for the total crop handled in this improved way. This makes no allowance, at all, for the jumbos and the strings.
At the same time that Mr. Saunders bedded his seed potatoes for his main crop, he also planted eight rows from which he secured vine cuttings to produce a seed crop for next year. He harvested 80 bushels from these eight short rows and says the potatoes were much smoother and nicer than those harvested from the bedded rows.
Bertie Potatoes
While in Windsor, Bertie County Farm Agent ‘General’ B.E. Grant told me about L.L. Saunders of Indian Woods, who found out this year that it pays to grow the Louisiana strain of Porto Rico sweet potatoes and to grow them properly. His were profitable this year despite the generally poor sweet potato season. Mr. Saunders harvested 250 bushels of No. 1 sweets, two bushels of jumbos and 35 bushels of small roots per acre from those which he grew according to recommended methods. From his usual methods formerly followed on the farm, he grew only 200 bushels of strings per acre.
Mr. Saunders secured his Louisiana seed stock in the spring of 1944, and before this past season, he treated his seed before bedding them. Under the sweets as planted in his demonstration field, he used 1,000 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer plus 10 pounds of borax per acre and set the plants 10 inches apart in the drill. When he drew the plants from the bed for setting before transplanting them in the field, he dipped them into a mercury solution as a further precaution against soil-bourne diseases in the field. For his general crop he used 800 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer and set the plants 14 inches apart in the drill.
He figures that at $2.50 a bushel, his increased production of No. 1 potatoes alone from the demonstration plot is worth $125 an acre or a total return of $625 per acre for the total crop handled in this improved way. This makes no allowance, at all, for the jumbos and the strings.
At the same time that Mr. Saunders bedded his seed potatoes for his main crop, he also planted eight rows from which he secured vine cuttings to produce a seed crop for next year. He harvested 80 bushels from these eight short rows and says the potatoes were much smoother and nicer than those harvested from the bedded rows.
While I was in Windsor recently, Bertie County Farm Agent ‘General’ B.E. Grant told me about L.L. Saunders of Indian Woods, who found out this year that it pays to grow the Louisiana strain of Porto Rico sweet potatoes and to grow them properly.
His were profitable this year despite the generally poor sweet potato season. Mr. Saunders harvested 250 bushels of No. 1 sweets, two bushels of jumbos and 35 bushels of small roots per acre from those which he grew according to recommended methods. From his usual methods formerly followed on the farm, he grew only 200 bushels of strings per acre.
Mr. Saunders secured his Louisiana seed stock in the spring of 1944, and before this past season, he treated his seed before bedding them. Under the sweets he planted in his demonstration field, he used 1,000 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer plus 10 pounds of borax per acre and set the plants 10 inches apart in the drill. When he drew the plants form the bed for setting before transplanting them in the field, he dipped them into a mercury solution as a further precaution against soil-borne diseases in the field. For his general crop, he used 800 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer and set the plants 14 inches apart in the drill.
He figures that at $2.50 a bushel, his increased production of No. 1 potatoes alone from the demonstration plot is worth $125 an acre or a total return of $625 per acre for the total crop handled in this improved way. This makes no allowance at all for the jumbos and the strings.
At the same time that Mr. Saunders bedded his seed potatoes for his main crop, he also planted eight rows from which he secured vine cuttings to produce a seed crop for next year. He harvested 80 bushels from these eight short rows and says the potatoes were much smoother and nicer than those harvested from the bedded rows.
Bertie Potatoes
While in Windsor, Bertie County Farm Agent ‘General’ B.E. Grant told me about L.L. Saunders of Indian Woods, who found out this year that it pays to grow the Louisiana strain of Porto Rico sweet potatoes and to grow them properly. His were profitable this year despite the generally poor sweet potato season. Mr. Saunders harvested 250 bushels of No. 1 sweets, two bushels of jumbos and 35 bushels of small roots per acre from those which he grew according to recommended methods. From his usual methods formerly followed on the farm, he grew only 200 bushels of strings per acre.
Mr. Saunders secured his Louisiana seed stock in the spring of 1944, and before this past season, he treated his seed before bedding them. Under the sweets as planted in his demonstration field, he used 1,000 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer plus 10 pounds of borax per acre and set the plants 10 inches apart in the drill. When he drew the plants from the bed for setting before transplanting them in the field, he dipped them into a mercury solution as a further precaution against soil-bourne diseases in the field. For his general crop he used 800 pounds of a 3-9-9 fertilizer and set the plants 14 inches apart in the drill.
He figures that at $2.50 a bushel, his increased production of No. 1 potatoes alone from the demonstration plot is worth $125 an acre or a total return of $625 per acre for the total crop handled in this improved way. This makes no allowance, at all, for the jumbos and the strings.
At the same time that Mr. Saunders bedded his seed potatoes for his main crop, he also planted eight rows from which he secured vine cuttings to produce a seed crop for next year. He harvested 80 bushels from these eight short rows and says the potatoes were much smoother and nicer than those harvested from the bedded rows.
